1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to the concurrent treatment or processing of containers, which serve for storing substances for cosmetic, medical or pharmaceutical applications, in particular of vials containing active ingredients or solutions with active ingredients, and more particularly to the concurrent automatic conveyance and transfer of a plurality of containers to processing stations, e.g. a filling or processing station, a sterile tunnel, a freeze-dryer for freeze-drying (lyophilization) of a liquid containing an active ingredient or the like.
2. Description of Related Art
Medication containers, for example vials, ampoules or carpoules, are widely used as containers for preservation and storage of medical, pharmaceutical or cosmetic preparations to be administered in liquid form, in particular in pre-dosed amounts. These generally have a cylindrical shape, can be made of plastic or glass and are available in large quantities at low costs. In order to fill the containers under sterile conditions as efficiently as possible concepts are increasingly used according to which the containers are already packaged in a transport or packaging container at the manufacturer of the containers under sterile conditions, which are then unpacked and further processed at a pharmaceutical company under sterile conditions, in particular in a so-called sterile tunnel.
For this purpose, various transport and packaging containers are known from the prior art, in which a plurality of medication containers are concurrently arranged in a regular arrangement, for example in a matrix arrangement along rows and columns extending perpendicular thereto. This has advantages in the automated further processing of the containers since the containers can be transferred to processing stations at controlled positions and in a predetermined arrangement, for example to processing machines, robots or the like. For this purpose, supporting structures are used, in which a plurality of containers can be supported concurrently in a predetermined regular arrangement. For the transfer to a processing station it is just required to properly position and open the transport and packaging container. The downstream processing station will then know at what position and in what arrangement the containers to be processed further are arranged.
Such a transport and packaging container and a corresponding packaging concept are disclosed for example in U.S. Pat. No. 8,118,167 B2. The further processing of the containers is, however, always performed such that the supporting structure will be removed from the transport and packaging container, that the containers will be removed from the supporting structure and isolated and then individually placed on a conveyor, in particular a conveyor belt, and transferred to the processing stations for further processing. This limits the speed of processing that can be achieved. Particularly in the isolation of the containers by means of cell wheels or the like, it always occurs that individual containers abut uncontrolled, which results in an undesired abrasion and subsequently in a contamination of the interior volume of the containers or of the processing station and in an impairment of the outer appearance of the containers which is undesirable.
U.S. Pat. No. 8,100,263 B2 discloses a portable transport and packaging container that can be packed in a sterile manner, in which a plate-shaped supporting structure can be inserted in which a plurality of medication containers are held in a regular arrangement. Firstly, the individual medication containers are placed loosely in receptacles, which are formed in the supporting structure. Then, the supporting structure is placed in the transport and packaging container, which is then surrounded by a gas-impermeable plastic tube. Upon subsequent evacuation of the packaging unit thus formed, the plastic tube is pressed into the spaces between the medication containers due to the negative pressure prevailing in the tube, which, on the one hand, results in a stabilization of the positions of the medication containers in the supporting structure and, on the other hand, in a prevention of further uncontrolled collisions of adjacent medication containers. During the evacuation and the subsequent opening of the plastic tube, however, the medication containers may slip sideways, increasing the efforts required for automation for processing further the medication containers. In addition, the medication containers may still collide uncontrollably after opening of the plastic tube, resulting in the aforementioned disadvantages. The medication containers cannot be processed further while being in the transport or packaging container or in the supporting structure, but must be isolated first in the conventional manner and handed over to downstream processing stations.
Other comparable transport and packaging containers and supporting structures are disclosed in WO 2011/135085 A1, US 2011/0277419 A1, WO 2012/025549 A1, WO 2011/015896 A1, WO 2012/007056 A1 and WO 2009/015862 A1.
However, for further processing the medication containers must always be isolated. This is exemplified with reference to FIG. 1, which is a schematic flow diagram of a conventional method for freeze-drying of pharmaceutical preparations in medication containers, as disclosed e.g. in U.S. Pat. No. 5,964,043.
First, the processing apparatus, namely a sterile tunnel, is charged with the vials. For this purpose, the vials are mounted upside down in transport frames, which are then conveyed through the processing apparatus. For a pretreatment, the vials supported in the transport frames are sterilized. Subsequently, the transport frames together with the vials supported are turned and then filled with a drug solution. Then, a stopper is placed on the upper rim of the vial, in which a channel is formed, wherein the inner volumes of the vials respectively communicate with the chamber of the freeze-dryer during the freeze-drying process.
For freeze-drying (also known as lyophilization or sublimation drying), the vials are then removed from the transport frame and individually fed into the freeze-dryer. The bottoms of the vials must be placed directly on a planar cooling bottom in order to achieve a good cooling effect. If no direct contact over the entire surface is ensured at this stage, this results in a significant extension of the freeze-drying process, resulting in higher costs.
After lyophilization, the vials are removed from the freeze-dryer, the stoppers are pushed down and a metal lid is put onto the stoppers and crimped. Vials processed in this manner are then shipped, for example by accommodating a plurality of vials in a common supporting structure and then inserting the supporting structure into a transport and packaging container, which is then sterile packaged for delivery.
The direct contact between the bottoms of the drug containers and the cooling bottom required for the freeze-drying process conventionally requires a treatment or processing of individual containers, which increases the processing and packaging costs. According to the prior art, a batch further-processing of drug containers is not possible. In any case, a direct contact of the bottoms of the drug containers, in particular of the bottoms of vials, is not possible in conventional supporting structures.